Laura writes ...

Monday, June 18, 2007

Last weekend's Nike Outdoor Nationals produced so many historic performances for Minnesota high school athletes -- is there any argument that it was the best meet ever for prep boys from the state? -- we felt prompted to dig deeper into the results.

Here, then, are the top performances of the meet for the Gopher Staters, in their historic context. (My thanks to Chris Marshall -- whose latest "Chris Lists" are appended -- and Minnesota Boys Track and Field Annual authors Tim Miles and Bill Miles.)

Note: We don't know of any comprehensive all-time lists for Minnesota girls similar to the Miles and Miles annual. We were impressed with Eden Prairie's 8th place 9:14.66 4 x 800 and 6th place 21:04.05 4 x Mile runs at NON, nonetheless.

Quinn Evans ... 9th @ 400m in 47.31 at NON ... the second fastest Minnesota 400 perfomance all-time, second only to Evans' own 47.18 from the 4AA Section.

Elliott Heath ... 3rd @ 2 Miles in 8:46.12 ... #1 all-time 2 Mile/3200 in the state, dethroning Mike Torchia's 8:50.80 after but one year ... we're trying to verify this, but we think the mark puts Heath in the top-25 for US high schoolers all-time. An 8:42.81 3200m equivalent.